Religious, Spiritual sights in Ukraine
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Caves Monastery
Rolling across acres of wooded slopes above the Dnipro, the Caves Monastery, also known as the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, deserves at least a half-day. It is the single most popular tourist site in the city, a highlight of visiting Ukraine and arguably the spiritual heart of the Ukrainian people.
Highlights include the striking early-12th-century Trinity Gate Church; the Refectory Church of SS Anthony & Theodosius, which sports the monastery's famous gold-striped dome; and the Nearer Caves, with dozens of niches containing glass-topped coffins holding mummified monks' bodies.
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St Pareskevy Pyatnytsi Church
St Pareskevy Pyatnytsi Church is named after the patroness of the large outdoor market that once occupied pl Chervona. Despite its sturdy, fortress-like appearance only about one-third of the church survived WWII. With its imposing brick walls and single cupola, it reflects the style popular when it was built in the 12th century - a style epitomized by the Nereditsa Church in Novgorod.
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St Nicholas Cathedral
The city’s most unusual church is St Nicholas Cathedral. It’s called the ‘drunken church’, because of the four twisted turrets surrounding its cupola. Painted blue with golden stars, these turrets create an optical illusion, much like an Escher sketch. The cathedral is a 1930s copy of a 14th-century royal church in Curtea de Arges (Romania).
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Kebi-Djami Mosque
A young city, founded in the 18th century under Russia’s Catherine the Great, Simferopol contains no must-sees. Remnants do survive, however, of earlier civilisations on the same site. The most interesting is the restored 16th-century Kebi-Djami mosque, which dates back to the Crimean Tatar town of Ak-Mechet (White Mosque).
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Khrestovozdvyzhensky Monastery
Khrestovozdvyzhensky Monastery was built in the early 18th-century. The main cathedral is one of only two in the country with seven cupolas, rather than five (the other is St Michael's Monastery in Kyiv). The monastery is a long (30 minutes), straight walk east on vul Radyanska (Sovetskaya) from Korpusny Park.
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St Catherine's Church
Lining the southwestern edge of the Val (ramparts) is a row of 18th-century cannons, from where you get a prime view of the five sparkling golden domes of St Catherine's Church in the immediate foreground. This is the church you see from several kilometres away if you drive into town from Kyiv.
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Boryso-Hlibsky Cathedral
The 12th-century Boryso-Hlibsky Cathedral is in the same short, squat style as the Pareskevy Pyatnytsi Church. It’s worth visiting for the stunning silver Royal Doors, commissioned by the famous Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa.
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Saint Peter's and Paul's Cathedral
The stately white and blue façade of the Roman Catholic Saint Peter's and Paul's Cathedral was originally built in 1610. Its renovated interior - painted in pink and yellow tones - resembles a massive Easter egg.
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Former Armenian Church
The 1762 former Armenian church boasts an attractive baroque façade and twin bell towers. The church sits on the eastern edge of pl Rynok, which is ringed with other colourful buildings.
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Church of St John the Baptist
The faded but still candy-striped Church of St John the Baptist dates back to 717, this Byzantine building is Ukraine’s oldest surviving church.
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B’nai B’rith Leopolis Jewish Cultural Centre
Around the corner from the Jewish hospital is the B’nai B’rith Leopolis Jewish Cultural Centre, which can arrange tours of Jewish Lviv.
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Sergiya Church
The 14th-century Armenian Sergiya Church is next to painter Ayvazovsky's tomb. He spent most of his life in Feodosiya, but was of Armenian descent.
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Spaska Church
The quaint wooden Spaska Church, with its newly rebuilt bell tower, faces an odd monument to Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great).
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Transfiguration Church
The light yellow, gold-domed 1753 Transfiguration Church is worth checking out for its fine frescoes.
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Uspenska Church
The newly rebuilt Uspenska Church is in the centre of maydan Soborny which is the prettiest little place in Poltava.
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Former Armenian Cathedral
The architect responsible for the Former Armenian Cathedral is Czech Josef Hlavka.
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Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection
The Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection is baroque in style and worth a glance.
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St Nicholas Church
Beautiful, fortress-style St Nicholas Church is situated on Monastyrsky Island.
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Mykhaylivska Church
Mykhaylivska Church is shut but can be admired from the exterior.
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